New York – House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, one of the most influential and important lawmakers in Washington, as well as one of the most outspoken supporters of Israel on Capitol Hill, will be the Keynote Speaker at the Zionist Organization of America’s Annual Justice Louis D. Brandeis Awards Dinner in New York City on November 16.
The dinner will be held on Sunday, November 16, 2003; reception is at 5:30 p.m., dinner at 6:30 p.m., in the Grand Ballroom of the New York Hilton Hotel, 1335 Sixth Avenue (at 53rd Street). For more information, call the ZOA at
Majority Leader DeLay delivered an address to Israel’s Knesset on July 30, 2003, that ranks as one of the greatest pro-Israel speeches ever delivered by a Member of Congress. In the speech, he announced, “I stand before you, today, in solidarity, as an Israeli of the heart,” and exhorted the Knesset, in Hebrew, “ahl teerah” [“Be not afraid”] to battle terror. “Israel’s fight is our fight,” he elaborated,” and declared that “Israel is not the problem [in the war on terror]; it is the solution and we will never leave your side.”
The ZOA’s Ben Hecht Award for Outstanding Journalism Concerning Israel and the Jewish People will be presented to Joseph Farah, the Arab-American syndicated columnist who is one of the most eloquent and principled pro-Israel voices in journalism. He is the Founder, CEO, and Editor-in-Chief of WorldNetDaily, a leading independent web-based news service, and one which takes an unfalteringly pro-Zionist, pro-Israel stance.
This year’s Brandeis Award recipients are Nina Rosenwald and Dr. Ben Chouake, who have been at the forefront of pro-Israel advocacy in Washington and beyond. Ms. Rosenwald serves on the National Boards of AIPAC, the ZOA, the Center for Security Policy, Daniel Pipes’ Middle East Forum, The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Dore Gold’s Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Steven Emerson’s Investigative Project, the Washington Institute, and the Interdisciplinary Center of Herzliya.
Dr. Ben Chouake is the President of NORPAC, the premier pro-Israel political action committee. He is the Chairman of the Congressional Internship Program of the Orthodox Union, and sits on the National Boards of AIPAC, the ZOA, and the Orthodox Union’s Institute for Public Affairs. He founded “Students for Unbiased News” (“S.U.N.”), a media watch program for yeshiva high school students that teaches skills and strategies for pro-Israel activism.
Rabbi Moshe Zwick, Executive Director of the Shulamith School for Girls in Flatbush (and now in the Five Towns as well) for 36 years, will receive the ZOA’s Zionist Educators Award, in recognition of his extraordinary efforts to instill in young Jews a deep and abiding love and knowledge of the Land of Israel.
The dinner co-chairs are David Steinmann, former chairman of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) and Sylvia Freyer, the prominent Jewish activist and philanthropist. The Master of Ceremonies will be Dr. Alan Mazurek, Chairman of the ZOA National Board.
Recently, the ZOA was described by The Wall Street Journal as “the most credible advocate for Israel on the American Jewish scene.” The Jerusalem Post said, “The ZOA is one of the most important and influential Jewish groups in the U.S.” And the Israeli daily Ha’Aretz wrote that the ZOA “ruined Arafat’s image in Washington.”
The ZOA’s Capitol Hill Office works closely with Congress on issues of import to U.S.-Israel relations. The ZOA Center for Law and Justice works through the U.S. judicial system in defense of Israel and Jewish rights. The ZOA Campus Action Network helps Jewish students fight pro-Arab propaganda on campus through bringing speakers, showing films, distributing educational materials, and holding workshops. The ZOA also stages rallies, holds press conferences, publishes full-page newspaper “issue ads,” and creates publications, to defend Israel’s good name and expose the Palestinian Authority’s pro-terrorist behavior. The ZOA is widely credited with leading the charge to expose and publicize the Palestinian Authority’s violations of the Oslo accords and President Bush’s “Road Map” plan.
ZOA speakers appear regularly on the TV and radio programs of the three major networks as well as of the cable TV leaders Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN.
Earlier this year, the ZOA brought more than 300 pro-Israel activists from around the country on its 2003 D.C. Mission to Washington. They met with Members of Congress and staff members to seek support for the Koby Mandell Act, to bring Palestinian Arab murderers of American citizens to justice, and the Syria Accountability Act, to pressure Syria to leave Lebanon and stop supporting terror. They also spoke to lawmakers about the dangers of creating a Palestinian Arab state, as proposed by the Bush Road Map plan.
Just last month, the ZOA’s protests convinced the FBI to cancel its plan to give an award to an official of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, which has praised terrorist killers of Americans and accused America of committing “genocide” in Iraq.
It was the latest in a series of instances in which the ZOA’s actions produced swift and decisive results.
When Strobe Talbott, the author of numerous anti-Israel articles, was nominated to become Deputy Secretary of State in 1994, the ZOA exposed Talbott’s record and helped persuade 32 Senators to oppose his nomination. The New Republic reported that the controversy and substantial vote against Talbott ensured he will never be promoted to Secretary of State.
When John Roth, who has compared Israel to the Nazis, was nominated as research director for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1998, the ZOA led the fight against the nomination—and Roth resigned.
The ZOA exposed and protested the anti-Israel statements and activities of Joseph Zogby, an extremist who had been hired as a senior aide to Assistant Secretary of State Martin Indyk in 1999. Within four weeks, Zogby left his State Department position.
When anti-Israel extremist Salam al-Marayati, director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, was nominated to the U.S. government’s National Commission on Terrorism in 1999, the ZOA led the successful campaign to have his nomination withdrawn.
After the ZOA in June 2001 protested plans by Vice President Richard Cheney to meet with officials of the extremist American Muslim Council, which has praised Hamas and Hezbollah, the Vice President canceled the meeting.
These and other campaigns have earned the ZOA a reputation as the most energetic, innovative, and credible Jewish activist group in America today.